It has long been the practice to provide redeemable coupons with goods such as food products and other commodities sold through food stores. The purpose of redeemable coupons is to promote the product and increase sales. The coupons are collected by the stores and returned to the product distributor for credit. Coupons have been printed on packages or otherwise incorporated in the packages. Examples of these types of redeemable coupons are disclosed in the following U.S. patents:
Duane, U.S. Pat. No. 814,592, issued Mar. 6, 1906;
Martin et al, U.S. Pat. No. 1,004,055, issued Sept. 26, 1911;
Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,470, issued Oct. 12, 1965;
Otto, U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,367, issued Dec. 22, 1981.
In some cases these systems require the purchaser to consume the product or otherwise open the package and bring back the coupon for redemption. This two-step process is inconvenient and militates against the full value of the promotional program. In any case, these systems are limited to certain types of products with paper-stock wrappings and are not generally applicable to all types of containers, for example, plastic or glass bottles. Further, a special manufacturing process is required to produce these coupons. Thus, these coupons do not have the flexibility of selected programs in different parts of the country or for limited periods of time.
Pressure-sensitive labels are well known. It would seem evident that one could simply apply pressure-sensitive labels to containers and have customers simply peel off the labels and redeem them. However, the labels may be difficult to remove from certain types of packages unless the packages are coated with a release agent. Once again, coating of the packages requires a special manufacturing technique and may require precise placement of the coupon on the package. Further, the pressure-sensitive label, thus removed, would have a sticky backing which is undesirable not only from the consumer standpoint but from the handling of such coupons. Otherwise, the exposed adhesive might be left on the package which would be undesirable to the consumer.
Buske, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,782 (issued Aug. 18, 1970), discloses a removable coupon wherein a sheet has a pressure-sensitive adhesive on a back portion thereof and a coupon is adhered to the back portion of a sheet, leaving an exposed adhesive-containing portion of the sheet through which the sheet may be attached to a product container. The sheet has perforations which may be torn for access to the coupon beneath the outer sheet. The coupon can then be peeled from the back of the sheet. Although the coupon itself may not have a sticky coating, the sheet portions are sticky and present disposal problems.
Romagnoli, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,168 (issued Nov. 29, 1977), discloses labels having backing material with a die-cut portion opposed to the label which portion remains adhered to the label when the label is removed from the backing and applied to a container. The label has adhesive on the back side through which the label is secured to the container. The label is removed from the container to expose the die-cut portion of the backing which may be used as a promotional item. The label back is sticky as in the Buske system and is generally of the same nature as Buske.
Hattemer, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,762 (issued Aug. 4, 1981), discloses a redeemable coupon in which base sheets have pressure-sensitive adhesive on the back side thereof and top sheets are positioned on the base sheet, coextensive therewith. The top sheets are adhered to the base sheets at the sides thereof, leaving the central portion thereof free from adhesive. Perforations are provided between the central portion and the side portions so that the central portion of the top sheet can be removed as a coupon. The removed coupon has no adhesive on the back side thereof and can be used as a redeemable coupon.
White, in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 30,958 (original issued Dec. 12, 1978), discloses a package label in which a label is secured at one portion thereof to a container and releasably secured at another portion thereof to the container. The second portion of the label can be separated from the first portion of the label and removed from the container. The label is not a redeemable coupon but rather is intended to be used as a dispensing and recording label for medicinal and pharmaceutical products.
Stipek, Jr., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,483 (issued Oct. 21, 1975), discloses a double die-cut label in which an outer portion of a top sheet is adhesively secured to a container. An inner die-cut portion is removable from the top sheet and has a backing sheet thereon. The backing sheet may be removed to apply the inner die-cut portion to another structure. This label is intended for use as decorative labels and is not particularly applicable to in-store redeemable coupons.
Kennedy, Jr., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,364 (issued Jan. 7, 1969), discloses a strip of tags in which individual tags are mounted onto a backing strip through an adhesive layer. A lacquer coat and a release coating are interposed between the tag and the adhesive on the backing strip so that when the tag is removed from the backing strip, it has no adhesive on the back side thereof. The adhesive and the lacquer coating remain on the backing layer. The purpose of the adhesive on the tag is to facilitate handling of the tag during the manufacture, in printing and distribution of the tag. The tag is not designed to be adhesively secured to another surface.